![]() Walton and O’Neal opened the Nashville company in 2011, focusing on both pedal designs and system integration via pedalboards and rack systems. These units are currently being built as one-off prototypes as XTS continues to refine their design. ![]() The Tejas Overdriver has all the capabilities of its mother-the Tejas Boost-but adds overdrive and fuzz to the mix. Walton would design the pedals, while Kingdom would do the printed circuit boards and some engineering. “That’s the thing we shoot for in a gain pedal: Not only do you hear an amp-like sound, but you experience an amp-like feel under your fingers.”īy 2009, Walton’s pedal-building work had grown to a point where he started subbing out work to Nashville’s Kingdom Amplification, where future partner Barry O’Neal worked. “It feels more like an amp than a pedal,” he says. Walton’s version has more gain on tap but still cleans up enough to serve as a boost. His first model, the Precision Overdrive, was based on an Ibanez Tube Screamer. I started like Robert Keeley, modifying Tube Screamers and DS-1s to make them sound the best they could.”īy 2006, Walton had decided it was easier to build a pedal from the ground up than mod an existing one. XAct Tone Solutions started in 2001 with me modifying pedals that weren’t reliable, or just didn’t sound great. and hang out with Dave Friedman at Rack Systems, trading him labor for knowledge. “Back in the ’80s, I built racks for myself. “I was doing pedalboards for players in Houston and Austin, just because I liked to do it,” he recalls. The company’s main office is in Nashville, but founder Walton lives in Houston, where he also works as an environmental consultant. The pedals evolved as part of the outfit’s larger mission: creating tone solutions for guitarists. But XAct Tone Solutions is more than a stompbox company. If you’re one of the tens of thousands of guitarists who’ve checked out YouTube gear-demo guy Pete Thorn’s terrific video of the XTS Atomic Overdrive pedal, you may be wondering, “Who are these XTS guys?” XTS-short for XAct Tone Solutions-is Greg Walton’s pedal and effect systems company, and the Atomic Overdrive is just one of the stompboxes manufactured under the XTS brand. ![]()
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